Hope dies last.

[BirdManMike]

He is OK. What a relief. He flew wonderful today, hundreds of feet, and stooped the homers hard.

Greta Grouse had nice points on a group of Sage grouse, a group of sharptail, and a sharptail single.

I didn’t fly any of them but at the Pitch he took he might’ve had a shot on the sharptail group.

Life is good.

 

[BirdManMike]

The team. He killed a young pigeon in fair flight from a really impressive pitch. Great flying.

 

[ignorethefringes]

The team. He killed a young pigeon in fair flight from a really impressive pitch. Great flying.

View attachment 242292

Nice new avatar

 

[kansasdad]

Love the crew photo. Such an amazing sport

 

[marshman]

Got into this thread late but really happy I found it! This is an awesome write up and picture story of your bird.
I have witnessed some very cool raptor moments waterfowl hunting, Bald Eagle, I have witnessed three kills over the years, all three mid air takes.. It is one the best examples of natures wonders in action.

 

[marshman]

Please keep this write up going! Very interesting and really enjoyable reading. It seems someone taught you well.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Love seeing this come together for you Mike.

 

[BirdManMike]

Nothing new and exciting to report. We have had a couple (very minor) set backs since last update.

Since everyone likes pitchers, here is Roach on a young pigeon killed in fair flight with my older dog, Olive, this morning.



Greta Grouse was still running round looking for birds, which she wont find in this training field, not until the snow start flying when a covey or 3 of huns will magically appear. The intent was for Roach to kill a pigeon today which he did in fine style - keeping the excitement and confidence high is really important with young chamber birds.

You can see Roach has a different transmitter on, mounted with a rubber band around the neck. I found the aftermath of last week's fence collision - a small wound on his back that was being rubbed by the backpack transmitter causing some bruising and swelling. Its not bothering him and he is flying great, but the pack had to come off and wont go back on - not all birds can wear the packs - so I am neck mounting a transmitter until I get a tail mount on either today or tomorrow. The swelling around the bruise is almost completely gone since I cut the backpack off yesterday morning. Thats setback 1, no biggie.

Setback 2 is that his weight got away from me last Saturday and he has been heavy. Heavy enough that he hasnt wanted to stoop the pigeons hard over the weekend until yesterday where it was back to where it should be. He has been flying really nice since he has a lot of energy and isnt all that hungry, but I cant put him over game when he isnt committed. Young bird issues - eventually, the hope is he is at a point where he stoops anything and everything, regardless of his weight, because he knows he can.

So thats where we are.

Another bummer is that Olive is now needing help both into and out of the truck. Her backend joints are hurting as she gets older, nearing 12. I give her the joint supplements, which does help some, but she is going to have to start sitting out more days. Its hard getting ready in the morning with her big brown eyes staring at me, waiting to get the collar on, knowing that I have to leave her behind.

And, finally, the last bummer is that ducks are completely off the menu this season. The HPAI (bird flu) is extremely bad, with as many as 60% of ducks tested in some sample groups being carriers. The ducks recover from it, but its a guaranteed death sentence for raptors. They dont even have to eat the duck - the virus can survive in pond water and just plucking a couple feathers of a duck thats been in infected water is enough to kill a raptor. I already know of 4 falconry birds that have died of it within 2 days of eating ducks, there are 2 confirmed wild peregrines dead of it near Cody with more samples of other dead birds awaiting testing by the Feds, and a couple failed eyries I know of where the parents and eyasses were all found dead (but too far decomposed for testing). The two golden eagles at one of the reservoirs I think might be dead now, too - I saw them in the usual spots late August/early Septemeber, but havent seen either in a couple weeks which is unusual since they are in predictable locations day in, day out.

Next week is falcon camp. Ill head east Wednesday and fly out there with a bunch of guys, all oldtimers, Thursday-Sunday.

 

[marshman]

The older dog issues are tough for sure, thoughts with you there. I have been reading about the bird flu concentrations in waterfowl populations. I am taking extra precautions cleaning birds this year.

 

[BirdManMike]

The older dog issues are tough for sure, thoughts with you there. I have been reading about the bird flu concentrations in waterfowl populations. I am taking extra precautions cleaning birds this year.

Yeah, I am not even going to shoot any ducks this season. I dont want any chance of contamination, especially since it apparently survives freezing (like many viruses do).

 

[BirdManMike]

I spent this past Wednesday-Sunday in _____, MT camping, flying birds, running dogs, and socializing with a bunchve other falconers.

The highlight of the trip, as ever, is evenings around the fire listening to the stories. I am the one of the youngest of the bunch at 41 and there were two other falconers in their 30s in attendance, but other than that these guys are all in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. They are all the 2nd or 3rd generation of American falconers, taught by the first generation (or 2nd, in some cases) of falconers that started not long after the turn of the 20th century, all of whom are dead. They remember a time before regulation, when captive raptors of all kinds could literally be ordered from magazine ads or wild raptors trapped by anyone and everyone, they remember the (near) extirpation of the peregrine in America, they remember - and were in some cases heavily involved in - the reintroduction of peregrines to the wild in the lower 48, they have stories of all the old legends like the Craigheads, and they remember a time when habitat and game birds number were far better than now. Many of them still practice falconry at a high level, despite their advanced age. Its really a treat.

The second highlight was Lars, a Project Manager at American Prairie Reserve, coming to camp for our potluck on Saturday to give a little talk about APR and entertain (A LOT! of) questions from the group. He fielded a lot of (sometimes hard) questions and talked a lot about APRs goals as an organization, how they manage their properties for the bison, their habitat restoration approach, and, most of all, fielded a lot of discussion about sage grouse conservation on the reserve. Really smart fella, and it was nice to hear about the work APR is doing from someone that is actually boots-on-the-ground running a lot of these projects.

And, the third highlight was the dog work. My little Greta Grouse ran with the setters and outdid every one of them. A pair of sharptail points on Thursday plus a lot of sage grouse, 3 sharptail points and a covey of huns Friday, sharptail Saturday and Sunday. She runs just as big as the setters she ran with and quarters out quite a bit further. She got herself some mighty fine compliments. She didnt run with the pair of e. pointers, tho - big males that are absolute machines, incredible range plus speed and intensity like no other. Id liken them to Ivan Drago in Rocky whatever, only in an alternate timeline where Ivan was even bigger and stronger and knocked out Rocky in round one. Every time I see these dogs run - along with the e. pointers of another falconer who wasnt there this year - I cant help feeling this is what future me needs.

As far as the flying goes, I saw some good things in that regard, also. Roach did OK. The autumn has been mild and calm locally -- where Id normally have had a dozen or so flights in 20+ mile winds, I had none until this past week. He was unused to flying in this wind, but he did as well as he could of, actually exceeding my expectations and mounting really well - one day easily to 500+ ft - despite being pushed downwind into poor positions, still much better flying than the often dipsy-doing in 50' high circles the falcons can often do the first few times they have to deal with high winds. All-in-all, a good experience for the guy. Saw some exceptional flying from some of the experienced peregrines of other falconers, too.

Only took 3 pitchers the entire time. An (giant of a) albidus goshawk (these birds come from NE Siberia and the Kamchatcka peninsula of Russia), tired Greta Grouse, and Sage the setter in a taco bed.





This morning, I got 3 points on sharptail here at home and a point on huns. I didnt intend to fly anything other than a hindered pigeon for confidence boost, but got an accidental flight on a sharptail single that flushed wild as I was walking into the wind with Roach in the air. He was at an excellent pitch, really high, but he was way wide when the grouse flushed (since I had no idea it was there) and didnt have a chance on it.

 

[BirdManMike]

Strange morning. A lot of gun hunters out on a random Wednesday. My favorite training field had a guy in pre-sunrise with some under-foot dog running round. Had to go elsewhere, to a stubble bench on Block Management, the next closest spot. Signed in and some bird hunters drove by, saw me getting ready, and left. When I was loading back up to leave, some other bird hunters signed in then stopped to ask me where I ran, if I found birds, and if I had been finding birds in this spot - I told them where I ran, that I didnt find birds (I lied - sorry, not sorry), and that there were birds there early in the season but theyve been shot up pretty good (kindve true).

My flight was ruined by a prairie falcon that came in on Roach as he was really high and still mounting. Not sure if it was a small female or large male, but they were about the same size. It was trying to crab with him - to lock feet and bring him down to the ground. I pulled out the lure and he came in. Only positive is that Roach was out-flying the prairie falcon with no problem which means he has built some good muscle, enough to outfly a wild bird that is on the wing a lot more than he is (a wild prairie falcon is no match for a wild peregrine - the prairie will get the snot beat out of it every time).

With general big game season about to start, its probably time I start running mostly private land. Ive been leaving the private alone mostly since Roach isnt really hunting upland birds just yet and there is no point disturbing the gamebirds and showing them what we are up to if we arent actually trying to kill them.

 

[Spedray]

Gotta say I've always been interested in falconary. Never had the time but fun hearing the commitment and rewards it involves. Keep up the posts please!

 

[BirdManMike]

I got to my training field early this morning in case there was someone there again. There wasnt and no one showed up. I stood around 15 minutes until it was light enough to start running the dogs.

Its been 4 seasons since there has been any real game birds in this field. It gets grazed pretty good so its not usually the best cover for them, and 4 seasons ago a couple guys found the birds early September and shot them all to hell in the first 2 weeks when they were exceptionally dumb. There was a bunchve guys running it the past few years, but there really werent any birds, save occasionally. This year, there are birds and (usually) no one running them, which is nice since its a great training field on account of the topography that gives nice updrafts when the wind blows, which is helpful for increasing pitch for the falcons.

Anyway, the guy yesterday didnt shoot anything, I dont think. At least not any of the grouse. Greta Grouse had 3 sharptail points. The first was single she held on a good 6-7 minutes, 500 yards out, as I made my way to her slowly. The grouse got up as I got to about where she was on point, which is good since it means they are wary enough now they are unlikely to get shot as itd be a really long shot from the point to where the bird flushed. She went running off and a few minutes later was on point again. I decided not to fly as I know this was certainly grouse - it was, and 4 sharptail again flushed when I got close to where Greta was pointing.

The 3rd point I decided to fly hoping it was the covey of huns that is sometimes there. Roach was too heavy this morning, but he is flying confident and I thought hed fly huns. I put him up - he didnt hestitate to start climbing. He took a huge pitch in no time, flying great, and when he was high enough I thought hed have a shot on anything, I made in to flush. The birds will really hold tight with a falcon in the air, usually allowing for a clean flush (Ive seriously flushed grouse in the past that I went to nudge with my foot thinking it was a dead one being pointed with the falcon in the air). I got a nice flush with Roach really high and in good position - two sharptail - but he didnt stoop. He shadowed them a ways into the wind as they flew off but never tucked his wings.

The trials and tribulations of chamber falcons. They are a blank slate, knowing nothing when they come out of the chamber. Its a positive in that the falconer can shape behavior relatively easy compared to a wild trapped bird. Its a negative in that they can be dumb as rocks and have to be shown everything.

So, this weekend I am going to get some more hen pheasants. He is going to kill them, alternating between flying my best homers that he has no chance on at the moment and killing a pheasant with his weight dropped to where he is extremely hungry. He needs to think that the grouse are easy(er). Fun times (not really).

 

[BirdManMike]

In case I’ve given the impression this is all fun and games…

My little feathered ahole decided to turn circles, wrapping a Jess around a leg, out weathering then start bating, causing a nice leg wound.

Clean it out, animicrobial gel, bandaid wrap. Repeat every couple days. New anklets every time too of course.





It’ll heal in a couple weeks. I’ll prob leave a bandaid wrap on the rest of the season, just in case. I’ve put them on pre emptive with kestrels and merlins before, but have never needed it on a peregrine.

Gave him a spray down and he’s soaking up some sun, drying off. He didn’t take his bath today since he got put on timeout.

 

[BirdManMike]

Ive been sticking to the plan. Mostly.

A day or two of good homers, then a launched hen pheasant. Roach has been flying well, really well. He isnt dilly-dally-ing, just mounting immediately, keeps gtting higher and higher. Then, after a chase, he remounts to nearly as high. He is in really good condition, now.

We did have one chase on a pair of sharptail that got up after a pigeon flight. He certainly wanted them, but was out of position and hadnt got to a good pitch, yet (I didnt know they were there and nearly stepped on them). I didnt throw the second pair of homers after that, of course, to not deter him from game (see game, dont stoop, doesnt matter because the pigeons are still coming - theyll learn this lesson seriously quick). Had a nice hit and kill on a launched pheasant from a 500-600' pitch, Id guess, and also had a nice flight and kill on one from half that in 20+ winds, which was great for the conditions.

I hate flying launched pheasants, tho it can be a necessary evil. Id rather fly pigeons - pigeon flight are really exciting. THe pheasants are dumb as rocks and dont understand the 5 d's of dodgebird - dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge - and just get hammered with little effort. Pigeons on the other hand...

Today, I put Roach up with Greta Grouse on point a few 100 yards away. I knew it was going to be huns, it was really cold, and Roach's weight was good, so I figured hed be motivated. He started mounting great and I started walking to the point. I shouldnt have done that, the huns made a good decision and blew as I got into view before Roach had come over - he was still really far downwind, circling up, and I dont think he really even noticed the flush as they hugged the ground down the gulley to cover. Stupid mistake.

Roach kept mounting, eventually making his way back over me to wait on. He was at the highest pitch he has taken thus far, Id guess 800-1000', a little speck up there. As he was wide and going away, I released a pair of homers. They took off hard at first, but slowed and started their circle to get their bearings - he was high and wide enough that they didnt think he was up there. Roach powered over then began a really hard stoop, the kind that can literally be heard as it hits speed fater than free fall.

The homers, realizing there was a falcon in the air at this point, split up, making their usual evasive maneuvers.

The pigeon - a good flying male bird from this year that has beat him at least 5 times, maybe 10, times - Roach picked got smacked. He didnt get a clean falcon punch hard enough to kill it in the stoop, but I think he hurt it and he certainly intimidated the F out it. When he pitched back up coming out of the stoop, he knew he was going to finish that flight. The pigeon knew it, too, and tried to bail to cover, not making it and getting caught as it tried to put in (presumably, I didnt see the ending as it went out of sight).

Roach's first fairly killed homer (the young ones dont count). A milestone.








We finished running the field after the kill and Greta Grouse had a nice point on another covey of huns, a large covey of almost 20 birds.

Im still trying to transition to taking wild game. We will get there, but this is one of the things I dislike about falcons raised in a chamber. Starting the season ready to fly gamebirds would have been ideal since the young birds can hardly fly in early September and are easy targets, but Roach took a while to get going. Im not worried about it, but sometimes I think I shouldve gone with my gut and taken a wild bird this year, tho they have course have their own 'issues' to work thru.

Itll come. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow is a whole new day.

 

[BirdManMike]

Had a wonderful flight on huns with Roach two days ago.

Greta Grouse went on point a few hundred yards out so I put him up. Knew it was huns. I let him get a few hundred feet of pitch before started towards the small fry. He kept mounting - higher and higher - keeping with me as I made my way towards Greta.

When I got to Greta, I had lost sight of Roach up in the sky. I could tell from the beep on the telemetry that he was up there, somewhere above me, put I could not get a visual. So I gave Greta the OK, in she went, and up went about 15 huns. They flew towards the edge of the little bench, heading to the creek for cover, with me watching for Roach to come into sight.

Just as I thought Roach wasnt going to stoop them, as the huns were a couple hundred yards out nearing the creek, I got a glimpse of him in a stoop. I have no idea how high he was - up there in the clouds somewhere - but it was too high for the flight I gave him as he didnt close the gap in time to catch the covey as they made cover. He came pumping back and I stooped him a few times on the lure. He is mounting higher, faster, than any of my previous birds.

Greta had another point on an even bigger covey after the flight in the same field. Now that the snows are flying and its getting colder, I am finding them out in flyable setups rather than on the fences or right on cover, which is great!

There is a GPS tracking system that can replace the telemetry. It links to the phone, visually showing the entire flight - heights, speeds, flight paths, etc - overlayed over google maps in real time (and in recordings post flight). Its really neat and on flights like these I think it would be super cool to see how high he really was up there and how fast he got in the stoop. The only problem is that I dont trust it. I personally know of one falconer that lost a really nice gyrfalcon out at hack because the thing just turned itself off in the middle of a flight. Ive heard of it doing this to a few other people, too. There was also an issue just a few weeks ago after an update where the transmitter would lose connection randomly at a certain distance (much, much less of a distance than typical) -- they fixed the issue with another update within the week, but it gives me pause. Most of the guys I personally know using the GPS are putting 2 transmitters on the bird, the GPS and a regular telemetry as backup. Id consider this on a female, but thats a lot of crap hanging on a little male. C'est la vie.


Had one hen pheasant left, and I put him up yesterday in 15 degrees, 10+ winds, and snow coming down. Tough conditions for a young bird unused to flying in such weather. He did great. I launched the pheasant when he was 300-400' pumping a little upwind. I figured I wouldnt get much more out of him in that weather which is OK! The pheasant flew great, and he falcon punched it hard in the stoop, knocking it out of the air. Then, as it stood there dazed on the ground, he made another pass punching it again, before turning and binding. Really happy with the flying, no more pheasants for him.

Hopefully, Ive a picture of some bird-on-bird violence involving Roach and a grouse or partridge soon.

 

[BirdManMike]

He killed another homer today. This one has been through a couple seasons, outflying various falcons dozens of times. Fuuuu

He caught it off the remount, too.

His first stoop was really impressive. He was up almost 1000’ (guestimate - no GPS, as mentioned, but I have seen enough flights), wide, pumping into the wind, and stooped HARD. The homer followed the 5 D’s to a T, and he pulled off after a short chase.

His second pitch was only 300 or 400 ft. I released the pair of pigeons whe he was wide, thinking he had no chance, but he didn’t stoop right away. Instead, he bid his time, pumping after them and actually gaining pitch, then did a wing over, rolling into a vertical as they turned, timing the stoop perfectly. Really, really impressive - not as visually impressive, he is learning how to be a killer.

He got a foot on the homer he picked, not hard enough to knock it down, but enough the pigeon headed for cover near a pivot. It didn’t make it.




As I was standing there letting him eat a nice meal for flying so well, a local rancher seeing us stopped on the road with his young daughter, maybe 12 or so (I can never tell any more - ¡que viejo!). I gave her a little lesson on falconers and falconry, answering a bunchve questions. Told them I’m always happy to take people out hunting - he said he’d be in touch and then added he might have some land for me to hunt.

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Just spent the last hour reading all of this. Absolutely fascinating! Subscribed.
I got interested in birding a few years ago and raptors quickly became my favorite. Been lucky enough to have a pair of Coopers Hawks nest in the neighbor's backyard for three seasons. Amazing to observe them.
Cool to hear how Roach is progressing.

 

[BirdManMike]

I’m loving this little ahole.

Went out with another falconer today, an old timer that’s been doing it 50 years.

Greta Grouse went on point not 5 minutes out of the truck. Olive was backing her. He told me to put up Roach for this one.

Roach mounted great right off the get go. He was 500-600 and wide when a second covey of huns out a few hundreds from the point flushed wild. He was in a good position to stoop them and stooped them hard but didn’t connect as they made it to ranch house for cover.

Both dogs still on point, I waited as he remounted. I began making my way towards the point for a flush. The huns had enough and went for it on their own. Unfortunately Roach was wide and didn’t get a good flush. They had two dogs pointing them for a good 10 minutes or more at this point with a falcon in the air chasing another covey so I’m surprised they last as long as they as they did before having enough.

He came back and remounted. Way up there, neither of us could get eyes on him but the beep told me he was there.

Breaking my rules about no pigeons after game, I’ll let 2 fly. Out of a sizzling stoop from the heavens came Roach. He didn’t connect, pitched up and put in a really nice chase, coursing one of the pigeons to cover at the ranch house.

Then he came back and went back up, this time along it to only 500’ or so. So I threw 2 more homers. Again, a sizzling stoop with no connection, coursing one of the homer into cover at the house, a few hundred yards away.

This time when he came back, I pulled out the lure and brought him down.

We went off further into the field to look for another point. One of the reasons he came over to fly with me is that his setter tweaked something running the other day so she is getting a few days of rest.

Again, not much more than 5 minutes after Roach was out of the air and I sent the dogs off, Greta was on point. Her tail was wagging a bit, tho, and I wasn’t sure if it was an old dig so we waited it out until Roach had finished his meal and could be hooded. Greta was still on point when he was hooded back up, so he put up his female peregrine - a really big bird for an anatum - who is in her third or fourth season. She mounted pretty well, but didn’t get much higher than 400’ (he has GPS in her). When she was in decent position, I released Greta and up went another covey. She stoop them well but didn’t manage to connect - whic is unusual for her - and wasn’t able to regain speed to fly one down. She didn’t want to go back up so he called her down.

Afterwords, my friend said that Roach is flying incredible and is really exciting to watch. He said the speed and stamina of ‘that bird’ is exceptional and that I’ve done an incredible job building his muscle, noting he thinks it’s time for him to fly another tiercel. He said that Roach is there and is going to connect any day now. Really nice praise from a fella who - though he wasn’t my falconry sponsor 10 years ago - has been an extremely helpful mentor to me. He also gave some very nice praise to the small fry, Greta Grouse.

The day wasn’t all rainbows and butterflies, tho. By the second point, Olive, who has ad the last 5 days off, was really lame in her backend, partially dragging her hind legs. This was her first day of the season running in the snow and it was really hard on her. I helped her as much as I could on the way back to the vehicles, massaging her back joints whenever she had to stop. This might be her last hunt of the season. Really sad watching them get old, especially when they love it so much.

Tomorrow is another day.